Online misogyny and the manosphere

A free guide to help you manage conversations in your school related to misogyny, gender expectations, and the manosphere.

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This free guide has been developed by the PSHE Association and a team of researchers based at the University of York, who are running an EU-funded project to understand how the manosphere is affecting the behaviour and experiences of young people.

Up against it

The manosphere was once a niche online community but a new generation of influencers have brought these ideas into the mainstream with viral content on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. And this same content is often served up to teenage boys without them even searching for it.

Practical tools for having difficult conversations

We know talking about the manosphere with pupils can be challenging, but the PSHE curriculum provides valuable opportunities to create positive counter-narratives and unpick some of the disinformation from the manosphere.

Our guide will support PSHE leads and teachers to effectively manage conversations in schools through unpacking the myths within the manosphere and outlining key evidence and research findings around the impact of these divisive narratives on women, men and wider society. 

As well as providing practical ideas and advice for how we can talk to children and young people about the manosphere, we've also included some examples of narratives and misconceptions from the manosphere that pupils might share in the classroom, and information that might be used to challenge them.

Don't miss the handy 'Manosphere Glossary' at the end of the document, along with links to further reading and research opportunities in this area.   

Dig deeper into these issues with our research arm, Fully Human:

What's actually happening in the manosphere? This episode of the Fully Human podcast, Tomorrow is the Question, explores new research into online misogyny and the manosphere.
FH Manosphere
Could James Bond be a useful source of teaching about sex, relationships, gender norms and misogyny? This episode of Tomorrow is the Question explores Bond as symbol, a loaded figure of sex and violence and potent store of teaching material
FH bond

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